Higher Degrees By Research
The Department of Statistics offers programs leading to the following postgraduate research degrees:
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Doctor of Philosophy
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Master of Philosophy
Programs may be taken either by full-time or by part-time study and arrangements may be made under certain conditions for supervision of research to be conducted externally.
For all research degrees, supervision must be available and candidates can be accepted only where suitable specialised supervision is available. Candidates should check the research interests of members of the department and approach potential supervisors prior to making application to the university.
Research degrees train students in research methodology and techniques, and in their critical evaluation and application. Candidates in some disciplines may be required to undertake specific course work or training units to supplement their research work. Applicants for enrolment for higher degrees by research may be required to complete a preliminary program of research training or preparation prior to enrolment in their higher degree research program in some circumstances.
Examination is by thesis for research degrees. Thesis by publication as well as traditional dissertations may be presented in accordance with approved university guidelines. Thesis lengths vary though it is expected that a Masters thesis is shorter than Doctoral thesis. Generally a Masters thesis has a maximum of 50,000 words and a Doctoral thesis a maximum of 80,000 words.
Areas of Research Interest
Applied research interests of the statisticians at Macquarie are mainly concerned with the applications of statistical methods in medicine, bioinformatics and stochastic finance. Other applied areas of interest include statistical education and computer simulation as applied to the analysis of communication networks. Research into theoretical and computational statistics is carried on by members of the Computational Statistics Research Group (CSRG). The work is mostly concerned with theoretical and algorithmic aspects of statistical image processing, signal processing, function estimation and statistical inverse problems. Other basic research interests in the Department include time series, econometrics, goodness-of-fit procedures, discrete multivariate distributions, statistical decision theory, nonparametric regression methods, minimal distance methods, regression smoothing methods and nonparametric procedures.
Current research students' projects
How to apply
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Find a suitable supervisor and research topic. You should consult the staff research interests. You may approach individual staff members, or contact the Departmental Director of Higher Degree Research, A/Prof Gillian Heller, in this regard.
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Higher Degree Research applications are managed by the Higher Degree Research Office (HDRO). Application Forms can be downloaded from the HDRO's website.
Detailed information about fees for local and international candidates and scholarships can also be obtained from that website.The Higher Degree Research Prospectus also has all the required information.
International students should visit the Macquarie International website.
For more information, visit the Faculty of Science Research Students website and the Macquarie University Research Office website.
Information for current HDR students in Statistics
- At the start of their candidature, students are required to attend the Central Commencement Program and the Faculty Commencement Program.
- Funding support is provided by the University (PGRF) and the Department. In Statistics, support is usually for conference travel and thesis printing and binding costs.
- The Department holds an annual Research Celebration Day in July, at which Staff and HDR students give short presentations of their current research.
- Full-time HDR students are given accommodation of a small office (possibly shared) and computer. Accommodation for part-time students is arranged as needed.